Muslim Women Managing Women's Shelters: Somaya, the Muslimwoman and Religion as Resource

Abstract

This article focuses on Sisters' Shelter Somaya in Sweden, an organization unique in its claim to be a women's shelter by and for Muslim women, and in its combining of Islamic and secular feminisms. Examining the organization's self-presentations, the author argues that there is, however, an ongoing shift from an emphasis on its Muslim profile to a dissolution of the very same. Looking into potential loss in the process (for clients, activists, allies, and feminism at large), the analysis draws on current research on anti-Muslim intolerance and normative secularism. The concept of the "Muslimwoman" is employed to illustrate the stereotyping that continuously associates Muslim women with "victims" inhabiting shelters rather than capable "managers". Intersectionality is pointed at as an emic strategy adopted by Somaya to overcome division, but also critically analysed as a consensus-creating signifier that hinders diversity. Thus, the article raises the increasingly important issue of the relationship between religion, gender, and feminism in the post-secular turn, and the author calls for critical self-reflection and creative affirmation in the interaction with heterogeneous others.

Classing religion, resourcing women: Muslim women negotiating space for action

“…When doing so, she employs the methodology of ijtihad , independent analysis of religious sources, and tafsir , interpretation of the Quran, to reject their stances (cf. Minganti, 2015: 96). In employing this way of legitimizing her views, she affords herself the authority commonly ascribed to the first umma who theologically preceded, and sanctioned, the sunna .…”

“…Research on activist—and organized—Muslim youth (e.g., Jacobsen, 2011a; Jouili, 2015; Minganti, 2015; van Es, 2016) find that dominant representations of Muslims cast them as, in essence, problematic subjects. This type of framing influences the ways European Muslims react to being classified, and how counter tactics, such as the subversion of stereotypes, emerge.…”

“…In other words, we argue that the women's discursive, intellectualist dispositions are intrinsic to their social mobility and class journeys and thus embedded in the state of affairs of second-and third-generation young, female Muslims who project a postmigrant Islam. 14 Research on activist-and organized-Muslim youth (e.g., Jacobsen, 2011a;Jouili, 2015;Minganti, 2015;van Es, 2016) find that dominant representations of Muslims cast them as, in essence, problematic subjects. This type of framing influences the ways European Muslims react to being classified, and how counter tactics, such as the subversion of stereotypes, emerge.…”

Introduction: Is secularism bad for women?: La laïcité nuit-elle aux femmes?

“…Certaines formes de laïcité ont mené à l'exclusion de femmes religieuses au-delà de la France et de la Turquie comme le montre Minganti (2014) Rights and Gender' project -see Cady and Fessenden, 2013). Moreover, the workshop series sought to bring together « question du voile » traitent en réalité de la signification et de la compréhension de la subjectivité et de l'agentivité, remettant ainsi en cause la notion de laïcité.…”

“…Certain forms of secularism lead to the exclusion of religious women beyond France and Turkey, Minganti (2014) shows in the Swedish context. She discusses how a women's shelter originally run by and for Muslim women became overtaken by a 'normative secularism' that came, in a xenophobic vein (reflecting the post-9/11 context), to regard Islam as bad for women, leading to it ceasing to be a Muslim-run shelter.…”